Bail for railways



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT, 0F NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

RAIL FOR RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,577, dated November 10, 1857'.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, TIMOTHY DWIGHT, of the city and county of New Havenand State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement inRailroad-Tracks, and that the following is a full and clear descriptionand representation thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making part thereof, in whichw Figure 1 is an isometrical view. F ig. 2is a longitudinal section showing the sill, rail, cross-tie &c. and Fig.3 is a cross section of the same.

The manner in which I construct my railroad track is as follows, viz:After grading I lay down cross ties at about three feet apart; uponthese I place stringers or sills of white oak or other very strong wood,six inches or more square in cross section, the sills being placed innotches prepared for them near the ends of the cross ties. In the upperside of the sills, about two inches apart I cut two longitudinal groovesthe whole length of the track, these grooves should be about an inch indepth, and those nearest the outer edges of the sills should be abouthalf an inch wide, and those on the inner side should be wide enoughfreely to admit the passage of the flange of the wheels intended for theroad. The formation of these grooves will produce between them, alongthe middle of the upper side of the sill, a continuous tongue from endto end of the track. The ends of these sills where they meet are notchedinto each other directly over cross ties.

The rail which I use, is about an inch in thickness and something overtwo inches in width, having flanges at its edges, say half an inch thickextending downwards, say one inch, giving the rail the form of aninverted gutter. The dimensions of these flanges and the space betweenthem, are to be such that they will accurately t over the tongueheretofore mentioned along the sill, and the flange will ft the outergroove thereof and rest in the bottom of the groove, while the middleline of the rail shall rest upon the upper surface of the tongue on thesill, and the inner flange shall rest upon the bottom of the innergroove in the sill. The rails are to be held to their places by screwbolts passing down through them and the sills and also through the crossties, the heads of the bolts resting in countersinks so that they willbe flush with the top of the rail and .the lower ends thereof, beingsecured by nuts. These screw bolts, not only serve the purpose ofholding the parts in place as spikes would do, but in case of a tendencyof any of the parts to work loose, and endanger the track, its integritywill immediately be restored by a turn of the nut.

At the ends of the rails, and also at the ends of the sills, the sillsand rails breaking joints, the ribs on the sills on both adjacent endsare removed for a few inches, and their place supplied by a piece ofiron, of the size of the rib or'tongue, and extending across the jointfor the rail to rest on. At these joints the cross-ties are made widerthan at intermediate points, that they may conveniently receive twobolts, one on each side of the joint.

In the accompanying drawings, c, represents the cross-ties, s, thesills, r the rails, b the bolts, t, the tongue or rib of the sills, z',the iron support, f, the flanges of the rail and f', the enlarged grooveon the inside of the track. By thus making room in the sill for theflange of the wheel, this flange will work against the flange of therail. One flange on the rail gainst which the flange of the wheel works,might answer the purpose, but I consider the form represented farbetter. By this construction' the strength and permanence of the T railtrack may be at tained at vastly diminished expense.

Having thus fully described my rail-road track, what I claim therein asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

The rail with its flange or fianges in combination with the sill adaptedto fit the lower part of the rail as described; and these I also claimin combinations with the screw bolt and nut as described.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT.

Signed in presence of- ALMER AUSTIN, ELIJAH GILBERT.

